The Last Dance of Lance Vance
by Zokolov
Summary: 1986, Vice City, Florida. The Vance Brothers arrive to set up a deal in Vice City. Unfortunately, everything goes terribly wrong. Basically, GTA: Vice City from Lance's point of view. Original scenes included as well


**THE LAST DANCE OF LANCE VANCE**

_Liberty City, 18.3.1986_

It wasn't too uncommon to see someone buried at the Liberty City cemetery. Just recently, a woman called Janet Vance was buried there. Only four people attended the funeral: her sister Enid, and her three sons, Victor, Peter and Lance. Today, the trio of men once again decided to visit their mothers grave. Victor Vance was arguably the 'leader' of the brothers, being the oldest. Two years ago, Victor was still a young idealistic soldier. After being kicked out of the army, Victor was forced to turn into crime, and ended up killing two drug lords, as well as the man who caused all his problems, Sergeant Jerry Martinez. Victor also earned thousands of dollars in the process, ensuring that they would never need to do dirty work again. Victor was now 30, but he wasn't as fit as he was two years ago. His posture wasn't as good as before, and he was getting fatter as well.

The 26-year old Lance was always considered to be the 'black sheep' of the family. Lance had a bad cocaine addiction, and he was also commented by Vic to be 'sick in another way'. While the brothers care for each other, Victor often thinks Lance as unreliable, opportunistic nuisance who endangers the business more often than he helps. Lance is highly dependable on Victor, and keeps falling into trouble. Peter (or Pete) is the youngest of the brothers, being only 23. Pete suffers from asthma, and requires medicine. Pete is also shorter and thinner than brothers, but has always been able to keep himself out of trouble. The three brothers were now quietly watching their mothers' grave. Lance was the first one to break the silence:

"I can't believe she's gone, man..."

"First dad, and now her..." said Pete.

Victor was quiet. For 10 years, Victor had been trying to prevent his family from falling apart. But looks like it wasn't meant to be. While staring at his mother's grave, Victor noticed that Lance was observing him.

"What?!?" Victor asked angrily.

"Nothing, nothing..." Lance said, looking away from Victor. "Should we go then?"

"Yeah...let's go..." Victor said, without looking at his brothers.

So, all three of the brothers moved towards their car. Lance sat on the driver's seat, while Victor rode shotgun. Pete sat on the back. Lance started the car, and the brothers made their way towards their respective new homes in Portland. Two years ago, Victor acquired a huge amount of money after he killed the Mendez brothers. Unfortunately, it was hard to enjoy them, as Victor knew that he couldn't run away from the law for long. This day was one of those days when Victor hoped that he would just continue living his life as it was. While Victor stared out of the window, he noticed that Lance was still watching him.

"What?" Victor asked again.

Lance sighed, and took a moment before answering:

"Now that she is dead...I have to ask you...have you thought about the thing...about the offer?"

"Offer?" Vic said, and looked away from Lance. "You mean the twenty keys of coke you have been hiding for two years? You mean the twenty keys of coke I told you to get rid of?"

Lance knew that it wasn't smart to annoy his brother, so he kept on driving. After a few minutes of silence, Lance spoke again:

"You remember Gonzales? From Vice City?"

"Gonzales...you mean that that fat weasel who steals drugs from his boss?"

Victor remember Gonzales well. Because of him, Victor was forced to drive around a van full of merchandise around Vice City. Victor had a foggy idea about what was going to happen. Lance gained confidence as he spoke again.

"Yeah, well, his boss, Colonel Cortez...he called me a while back..." Lance said quietly, while keeping his eyes on the road.

"I know where this is going..." Victor mumbled.

Lance lost his patience, and he took his eyes off the road as he spoke to Victor again:

"But this is the big chance! We do this one thing, and we never have to worry about it again! Cortez will make sure that no questions will be asked!"

"Lance! Watch the road!" Pete yelled from the back seat.

Lance quickly turned and placed his hands on the steering wheel. Pete was clearly listening as well, and as much as Victor despised drug dealing, a part of him knew that it would be dumb to refuse from the offer.

"So..." Victor said. "No questions asked...where, when and to who?"

Lance was pleased that his brother didn't sound angry anymore, and continued anxiously:

"OK, we have the helicopter, right? Nobody will notice when we make our way to Vice City, and give the merchandise to the buyers. The deal is about to go down in two days, so I _really_ need your answer!"

"Who are the buyers?" Vic asked.

"I don't know, some Mafia bozos, I guess...but that's not important!" Lance explained. "The point is, once we do this, we come back here, grab our stuff and spend the rest of our lives in Panama, or Costa Rica, or..."

"Hawaii?" Pete asked.

Both Lance and Victor turned. Pete was listening closely on the back seat. Both of the brothers didn't want to involve Pete in the drug trade, so they refused to reply. Victor thought for a moment, before he gave his answer to Lance.

"So...the deal is risk-free...Gonzales arranged this?" Victor asked.

"Oh, no, no..." Lance said. "This deal has gone through Colonel Cortez, personally. Some whacked-out lawyer contacted him on behalf of the mob."

"What mob?" Victor asked.

"Uh, I don't know, the Corelli Family or something, but like I said, it's not important. The real question is, are you in?"

"I'm in!" Pete commented from the back of the car.

Both of the brothers ignored the youngest brother again, and there was a perfectly good reason for that. The asthmatic and often sickly Pete wasn't a best choice to have with them for a drug-dealing mission. Plus, both of the brothers wanted to keep Pete away from those things. Pete had a clean record, unlike Victor or Lance. Victor was in his thoughts for the whole trip. It would be insane, especially after the things that happened to him two years ago. But he had plenty of backup there...Los Cabrones...Phil Cassidy...Ricardo Diaz and his gang...and it would be fairly easy...

As Lance pulled over, Victor was the first one to step out of the car. Vic's current house wasn't too glamorous. And Liberty City was a real craphole either way. Both Lance and Pete watched their big brother expectantly. After few seconds of consideration, Victor smiled and said:

"Let's fly!"

A helicopter flew through the air, and was getting close to the fabulous Vice City, the most infamous town in Florida. Under the glitz and glamour, Vice City was an unsafe place filled with drug dealers, street gangs and corrupted politicians. However, Vic was still happy to return there. He knew that he wouldn't have to return here ever again, and he felt sympathy towards the town that would give him the opportunity to get a lot of cash. Lance piloted the Maverrick, while Victor kept his two briefcases away from Lance. Knowing Lance's history of drug abuse, Victor was happy to finally get rid of the cocaine. Victor saw how the docks opened below him, revealing a white car parked there. Victor knew what it meant: the buyers were there.

"Nervous?" Lance asked him.

"No." Victor said bluntly.

Lance was surprised. He wasn't sure if Vic was pretending or not, but he sure was nervous. After dealing with corrupted army sergeants, undercover cops and white supremacist biker gangs in his past, Lance wasn't too keen on returning to Vice City. Lance remembered the day when he first arrived there: after meeting up with Victor, they were chased by heavily armed gang members, and were forced to drive around the town while dodging bullets. But there was no turning back anymore: Lance landed on Viceport, but he kept the engine running.

The Vance brothers had an arrangement: Lance would fly them to the locations, while Victor handled the talking. Victor was always much better with people than Lance. Lance remembered Brian Forbes: a man he thought as a drug dealer, but was revealed to be an undercover FBI agent. Lance was still blaming himself for the incident, as for many other misfortunes the brothers faced in Vice City two years ago. But Victor was confident, as he simply smiled at Lance, before leaving the helicopter with two briefcases.

Lance simply watched as Victor approached three men at the docks. One of them, who seemed to be the oldest, wore a blue Hawaiian shirt, and looked like he had gone through some hard time. It was easy for Lance to see that the older man was in charge of the group. His escorts seemed much younger. Lance noticed how neither of them carried guns, while Victor had a revolver in his back pocket.

"Got it?" the man in the Hawaiian shirt asked Vic.

"100-percent, pure, grade-A Colombian, my friend!" Victor exclaimed.

Lance grinned, as he saw how the deal went as it was supposed to go. Lance relaxed in his seat, and leaned back while watching the deal.

"Let me see it!" the man demanded.

"The greens?" Victor asked.

Lance was proud of his brother: it was indeed smart of him, asking to see the money first. Perhaps the deal would go down as planned...

"Tens and twenties. Used." said the man.

His escorts, in the meantime, both opened their respective briefcase, revealing them to be filled with cash. Lance's grin grew even wider. This was it. The deal would go down. In his mind, Lance went through stuff that he would buy after this. A new car...plenty of new clothes...

While thinking through all this, Lance observed the location. He couldn't see Colonel Cortez anywhere, nor he was able to see Gonzales. Then, all of the sudden, he remembered what Victor had told him. Two years ago, Ricardo Diaz had threatened Gonzales to inform Diaz of every deal that Cortez arranged. Then Ricardo Diaz would know of this deal as well...but Lance relaxed, as he remembered that Diaz was in good terms with the Vance brothers. But it had been two years...and Diaz was a dangerous man. He could easily ambush the deal.

And as this thought popped in Lance's mind, Lance saw three men in black suits, hiding behind crates, just nearby Victor and the three mobsters. It was an ambush.

"I think we have a deal, my friend!" said Victor, while laughing.

As Victor lowered his briefcases, and the man in the Hawaiian shirt was about to take them, the masked gunmen popped out from behind the crates, and started shooting. During that moment, Lance ignored everything, even his own brother, as he started to fly with the helicopter, leaving everyone behind. As Lance leveled off, he saw that the drugs and the cash laying on the ground, next to the bodies of Victor, and the two escorts. The main in the Hawaiian shirt, had survived. He jumped in the white Admiral and drove away. Lance couldn't think of anything else while escaping the docks: Victor Vance, the most important person in Lance's life, was dead.

_A day later..._

Lance sat in his hotel suite. He wasn't able to leave Vice City. He had only one thing in his mind: revenge. Whoever killed Victor, would pay. Lance looked out of the window: he was at Ocean View, the finest hotel in Vice City, in the Ocean Beach area. He didn't know what to do. He unsuccessfully tried to contact Umberto Robina, the leader of the local Cuban street gang called 'Los Cabrones', and he couldn't find Phil Cassidy anywhere either. He didn't want to call Ricardo Diaz, since he had a hunch that it was, in fact, Diaz, who jumped the deal. The hardest part of the whole thing was calling Pete. After recently losing his mother and father, Lance was certain that Pete wouldn't want to hear that his brother has been killed.

In his moment of despair, Lance finally got the much awaited call. It was from Umberto Robina. Umberto had a strong Spanish accent, and he judged people by the size of their 'cojones'. Lance never knew whether he meant courage, or the actual testicle size...

"Umberto! Any news?" Lance asked anxiously.

"No, señor, nothing." Umberto said. "Look, Lance, I'm terribly sorry to hear about Victor. That boy had cojones!"

"Yeah...he sure had...look, man, I need a lead! I need to know who did this to my brother! And those guys stole twenty keys from me!"

"Well, there is one guy..." Umberto said. "His name is Leo Teal. He's some kind of hitman, did some work for me in the past. He would certainly benefit from twenty keys! He's a chef at the Ocean View hotel!"

"Ocean View?" Lance repeated. "Well, OK, thanks, Umberto. See you later!"

Lance threw the phone away, and prepare to leave the hotel room. He went to the reception, asking for Leo Teal. He was informed that the chef was at the alleyway, behind the hotel, taking a break. Lance sneaked towards the alleyway, but stopped and pulled out his pistol when he heard fighting noises coming from the alleyway. He looked behind the corner, and recognized the man in the Hawaiian shirt. The man was beating up a cook, who Lance presumed to be Leo. Apparently he was looking for information...but it seems that the man was quite new in interrogating, as he was punching and kicking the man, without realizing that the guy wouldn't live to speak anymore. And as Lance expected, Teal soon stopped moving, and the man in the Hawaiian shirt started panting while watching Teal's body.

Lance then realized that they were on the same side. Lance placed his pistol in his pocket, and moved towards the man.

"Oh, way to go, tough guy." Lance said, trying to make friends with the man. "Beat him to a pulp. That should make him real chatty."

The man obviously didn't have any sense of humor, as he stopped panting, shook his fist and yelled:

"You want some too?!?"

"Hey, chill!" Lance said while backing down. "I know what you want, brother!"

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"Your green. And my dead brother's white lady. Unfortunately, you just silenced our lead!"

The man just scoffed at Lance, and turned away, while saying:

"Accidents happen. Get lost!"

"Hey, whoa, no need to go all 'Lone Ranger' on my ass! The way I see it, we two hombres in a strange town. We need to watch each other's back, amigo!"

Lance realized that it was his last chance to get to know the guy. But the guy retreated, while saying:

"My back's just fine, brother!"

But as he spoke, three cooks, armed with knives, machetes and meat cleavers, appeared behind the guy. As he heard their footsteps, he turned around. Lance grinned.

"You sure about that?" Lance said. "Here take this! Let's go!"

Lance then threw the guy his pistol, and started to run.

"This way!"

Lance ran as fast as he could, and he knew he succeeded: the man in the Hawaiian shirt followed him. Lance heard gunshots, and was certain that the cooks had been handled of. Lance quickly jumped into his Infernus; his pride and joy, an expensive white sports car. The man in the Hawaiian shirt jumped into the driver's seat, and quickly escaped, leaving the two surviving cooks behind. Lance looked at the man, who was clearly exhausted from the running, smiled, and said:

"One thing you got to realize about this town, is that you need to pack some heat! A local gun shop is a couple of blocks away!"

During the next few weeks, Lance kept himself around the mysterious man in the Hawaiian shirt, and learned that his name was Tommy Vercetti. A fitting name for a former Mafia hitman...Lance helped him all kinds of situations, including introducing Tommy to Ricardo Diaz. Diaz was the biggest drug baron in town, and it was all because of Victor and Lance, who helped Diaz out two years ago. After asking around, however, Lance was certain that Diaz was behind the deal ambush. Lance had realized it too late...Victor was already dead.

The worst part about Victor's death was the fact that Lance felt it was his fault. While Pete didn't accuse him of this, Lance was sure that Pete thought that Lance should have been watching Victor's back. And Lance was the one who pushed Victor into doing the deal...

Lance had previously infiltrated Diaz's gang, under the name 'Quentin', two years ago. He now started to use this alias again, and got to know Diaz. Without Lance knowing it, Tommy had also infiltrated Diaz's gang, and was also gathering some information about his drugs. Lance couldn't care less about the drugs or the money: he only wanted revenge. Under the alias 'Quentin', Lance helped Tommy to run all sorts of errands for Diaz. But Lance wasn't happy with Tommy's methods: Tommy was very keen on 'taking the town over', something that Lance didn't consider smart. Lance was sure, that Tommy and him could easily overpower Diaz and catch him while he wasn't on his guard.

One night, Lance was visiting the world-renowned 'Complete the Look' store, buying new clothes. When he left the store, he started his car, and decided to drive to Little Haiti, where he could meet up with Phil Cassidy, an old friend. While driving around, Lance noticed the numerous changes around Little Haiti. The place wasn't as great anymore: gang problems had torn down the place, making it probably the worst area in Vice City. Haitian gang members where selling drugs around the area, and they did nothing to hide it. Lance had never even seen a police officer around the streets of Little Haiti: they were all too afraid of the Haitian gang.

While Lance was getting closer to Phil's Place, he noticed a very familiar car: a red Sentinel, driven by two grunts in Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses. And Diaz was sitting on the backseat. The car was heading towards the junkyard. Lance looked anxiously around: Diaz didn't have any additional backup. When he was alone, Lance could easily cap him. Lance took his Desert Eagle from the backseat: it was payback time. Lance started to follow the Sentinel around, slowly.

When the car reached the junkyard, it stopped at the entrance. Lance hid his car, and sneaked close, so he could hear every word that Diaz said:

"Keep all those Haitian dickheads away from here. I don't want any gangbanging around here! This is very important to me! You got that? Good!"

Diaz left the two grunts, who stayed inside the car. Lance knew that his opportunity arose: Diaz was alone, without guns. If he could only get past the security...but when Lance got closer, he recognized the other security guard. It was Manche, a man Lance got to know two years ago, when he first met Diaz. Manche knew Lance as 'Quentin', so Lance didn't have any trouble at all. But it would be too suspicious if he carried a Desert Eagle around...

Lance hid the Desert Eagle in his Infernus, and took a small Walther from the backseat. It was perfect. Lance hid the Walther into his sleeve, and started walking casually towards Manche and the other Colombian.

"Hold it, pendejo!" Mance shouted. "Who the hell are you?"

"Hey, Manche, it's me, Quentin! Relax, amigo!"

Lance was sweating, and hoped that Manche wouldn't notice. Manche lowered his Uzi, and nodded at his partner.

"Oh, hey, Quentin. What do you want?"

Manche's tone was rude: clearly he wasn't expecting any visitors. Lance smiled, but Manche probably noticed how forced the smile was.

"Well, I'm here to see Mr. Diaz. We agreed to meet here!" Lance said.

"Here?" Manche repeated. "Meet? Ah, so you must be the guy. OK, in you go..."

Lance grinned, nodded, and proceeded to move, but when he passed Manche's friend, he heard him yelling:

"Hey!"

Lance stopped, and turned around.

"What?" Lance asked nervously.

"Come here, I need to do a search...Diaz's orders!"

"Hey, Juan, he's cool!" Manche said. "Let him go!"

"No, no, no, let the boy do his job, Manche!" Lance said, knowing that Juan could never find his pistol.

And indeed, as Juan completed his search, Lance was free to go. Lance walked around the junkyard. It was really an odd to place for a meeting. And even though the place was empty, Lance had a strange feeling that he was being watched all the time. Lance walked forwards, until he saw a small open building. Inside the building, he saw two people that he recognized: Umberto Robina, and Ricardo Diaz himself. Both were surrounded by their own bodyguards, and they were talking about something. It was fairly easy to know what...

Lance sneaked towards the place, and looked around him. No guards whatsoever. If Lance could silently snipe Diaz before anyone noticed...but Umberto was there...Lance didn't want to kill him, or involve him in any trouble...but this was his last chance. Lance pulled out his tiny pistol, and attached a suppressor into it. There weren't much possibilities anymore. Lance wished he had a sniper rifle with him, and felt how his heartbeat grew faster. This was it...last chance...Lance breathed in, aimed and pulled the trigger:

The bullet smashed a glass on the table, that one of Diaz's guards was just about to take. The guard's hand was slashed by pieces of glass, and he fell down. The two Cuban gangsters behind Umberto started running away, while Umberto took cover under the table.

"Diaz!" he screamed. "Our deal is over, man! You're bad news for us!"

Umberto started running, albeit slowly, since he was fairly overweight. While running, he panted:

"I'm never leaving the café, never, ever again!"

Lance took aim again, but this time, he had no time to pull the trigger. A sniper on top of the nearby crane spotted him, and fired a bullet into him. The bullet scratched Lance's ribs, and Lance was knocked unconscious because of the impact.

A few minutes later, Lance felt how a bucketful of water splashed against his face. Lance spat some water on the floor, and opened his eyes. Everything was blurry. Lance knew, that they tried to fix Lance's wound, but it was still bleeding. Lance knew that he didn't have much time to survive. He saw one of Diaz's accomplices, as well as Diaz himself, looking down on Lance.

"...what if he doesn't talk, boss?" said the accomplice. "He's isn't living much longer..."

"I don't care. I just want a reason why Quentin tried to cap me. If we don't find out..."

Diaz made a cutthroat gesture to the accomplice, who nodded. Diaz then briefly glanced at Lance, before leaving.

"Where you going, boss?" the guard asked.

"Home!" Diaz said. "I need a drink after all this...take care of things!"

Lance bit his teeth...he had a bad feeling about this...and he was quite sure he knew what those 'things' were, as the guard grabbed a wrench from the table and approached Lance...

_Meanwhile, in the Malibu Club, Vice Point_

A man entered the Malibu Club. He took a quick glance inside...it was late at night, but the Malibu was still crowded. The man was wearing a black hat, blue jeans and a white T-shirt. It wasn't hard to know that he was one of the Cuban gangsters in Little Havana. Even though he just found a girlfriend from Little Haiti, he didn't like that neighborhood. He didn't usually leave Little Havana, but he loved the Malibu Club. He looked at the stage, and saw a group of people in uniforms, dancing: a police officer, a fireman, a construction worker, a biker and a military private. The man smirked at this cheap Village People-knockoff, and moved towards the bar. The man smiled, as he saw a blonde-haired guy in a purple shirt, sitting on a barstool and trying to talk to the women there.

"Awright mate, your loss, init...Pepe!" the man said, with a strong British accent.

"Hey, Paul, amigo!" Pepe said. "Keeping busy, I see" he added sarcastically.

"Hey, go easy on me mate, some guy roughed me up the other day. But I got a fantastic deal! You're looking at the new manager of Love Fist!"

"Alright, man, nice going!" Pepe said.

"But where have you been, mate? I haven't seen you here in ages!"

"There was a big deal down at the junkyard, man." Pepe said. "And some black guy barged in and interrupted the deal!"

"Who was it?" Paul asked.

Pepe thought a moment before answering: he knew how Paul loved to spread rumors around, and Umberto didn't want anyone to know. But Pepe couldn't say no to Kent Paul; there was something weird, yet charming in the British fellow.

"Well, Umberto told me...that Diaz said to him that his name was...Quentin Vance, I think..."

"Vance...I wonder if it's...wait a minute...was he with this tough guy with a blue Hawaiian shirt?" Paul asked.

The question seemed odd to Pepe. But as he started to think, he remembered something...Diaz had told Umberto, that a new hitman was in town, a rugged man in a Hawaiian shirt, called Tommy Vercetti. He was rumored to be the second-best hit man in town, right after Leo Teal. Umberto had ordered Leo to do all kinds of things for him, but also ordered everyone to keep an eye out for this Tommy Vercetti guy. Pepe finally admitted the truth to Paul:

"No, but Diaz said that the Vance guy was friends with him. Do you mean Tommy Vercetti?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I said! Bloody hell...I need to make a call...hold on..."

Paul took his cell phone from his pocket, and turned away from Pepe. Pepe listened closely:

"Hey, Tommy, it's Paulo! I might have a little result to you, but I need to speak you in person. I'm enjoying a little R&R at the Club Malibu. You better come quick!"

Pepe was disappointed to himself: Paul blurted out his secret. Without even saying goodbye, Pepe left the bar.

_Back at the junkyard..._

"Tell me! You better tell me what I want to know!"

Lance was tied to a chair. His wound was bleeding, and badly. There was blood around the floor. Lance could also feel how blood was pouring from his nose, and felt the disgusting taste of it as it dripped into his mouth. Lance simply spat the blood away, and turned his eyes from his interrogator. He wasn't saying anything...they would kill him either way...

"Your loss, amigo!"

The interrogator punched Lance straight in the face, but Lance was already numb from pain. He had a ringing his ears, but he still could distantly hear gunshots, coming from far away...

Lance's interrogator turned away from Lance, and looked around him.

"What the fuck was that?" he said to himself, nervously.

Suddenly, Lance could hear the gunshots very closely: rapid fire from an Uzi. He also heard, how the two guards in front of the building screamed, before dropping dead on the ground. The interrogator pulled out his own gun, but didn't have time to fire, as he dropped dead on the floor as well. Lance felt how a man approached him, ripped off the ties and pulled him to his legs. Lance recognized the unshaven beard and the blue Hawaiian shirt: Tommy came for him. But he was looking more angry than ever.

"There goes my careful planning blown to shit! You screwed up real good, Lance!" Tommy yelled.

Lance turned away from Tommy. He didn't know what to say to his defense. Without thinking, Lance uttered:

"He killed my brother...what did you expect me to do, mow his lawns?"

Tommy sighed, and pulled out a Desert Eagle from his back pocket.

"We got to take out Diaz before he takes us out..." Tommy said. "You OK to use a gun?"

Lance could now stand up better, and was also feeling much better as well. But he knew that he would still bleed to death if he couldn't get proper treatment, and soon. Lance just grinned, took the gun, and said:

"Sure...I guess...nice to see you too!"

"Let's get out of here!"

Tommy aimed his Uzi towards the junkyard, but Lance didn't even raise his arm. He couldn't see very well, so there was no point for him to shoot. Tommy nodded briefly, before he dragged Lance to the red Sentinel parked next to the building where Lance was in. Tommy looked inside, and saw the keys. He smashed the window with his gun, pulled out the keys and opened the doors. Without saying a word, Tommy pushed Lance on the backseat. Lance sat down, and as he felt the comfy car seats, would have liked to pass out already. But he didn't want to show any signs of weakness to Tommy, who started driving.

After an uncomfortable ride, Tommy finally reached the hospital in Vice Point. Tommy had to lose Diaz's pursuers first, and Lance only felt his wound getting worse. At the hospital door, Tommy took Lance's gun and placed it under the seat of the car. He then threw the keys to Lance, and said:

"Take the car. Get patched up, and meet me on the bridge to Star Island, OK?"

"Okay, Tommy, okay..."

Before entering the hospital, Lance watched as Tommy left. No matter how Tommy was like, he still saved Lance's life. And Lance was grateful.

_Three days later, Diaz's mansion in Starfish Island_

Tommy and Lance did it: armed with M4's, they barged their way into Ricardo Diaz's mansion, killed multiple guards and finally reached the stairs leading to Diaz's office. They even faced Diaz himself. Lance took care of the other guards, while Tommy himself took care of Diaz. Lance could only admire Tommy's skill with the gun: with quick shots, Tommy first disarmed Diaz with a shot to the right shoulder. He then pumped a bullet in both of Diaz's knees, preventing him from escaping. And with his last bullet, he shot Diaz in the stomach. With his last strength, Diaz dragged himself on the floor, surrounded by blood, pieces of glass, cartridges from the guns and dead bodies.

"YOU STUPID PRICKS!" Diaz screamed. "My beautiful house...look what you done to it!"

Lance threw away his M4, and took out the Desert Eagle Tommy gave him. Tommy followed suit, threw away the assault rifle and pulled out a revolver. They both walked to Diaz, and with much contempt, Lance kicked Diaz on his back.

"This is for my brother!"

Diaz ignored Lance, raised his arm weakly, and while coughing, he spoke to Tommy:

"I trusted you, Tommy...I would have had you made!"

Tommy raised his eyebrows, and looked at Lance. Lance nodded, and Tommy nodded too. Then, they both pointed their guns at Diaz's face. Before doing anything, Lance wanted to make sure Diaz's remembered him.

"Say goodnight, Mr. Diaz!" he said, and pulled the trigger.

Tommy graciously allowed Lance to finish Diaz; the man who ordered the killing of Victor. However, killing Diaz didn't make him feel happy. It didn't make him feel better, quite the opposite really. Tommy, however, was happy. He walked to Diaz's office, and looked into the safe, that Diaz left open. Lance followed Tommy into the office, and watched how Tommy took out piles of cash. Not only did Tommy get back the 3 million dollars he had with him, Lance also saw the 20 keys of coke he brought into town: that stuff alone destroyed the entire family. First it killed their father, then it killed their mother, and then Victor. Victor, who never even did drugs in his life.

Tommy immediately took charge of the operation. As Diaz's remaining men came to him, Tommy arranged new clothes for them, and immediately told them to go recruit some more members into their gang. Tommy also took the keys for Diaz's variety of sports cars, limousines and the Maverrick helicopter. Tommy also called more people for the 'grand opening': Avery Carrington and Ken Rosenberg. Lance disliked them both.

Ken was a neurotic, self-centered and backstabbing lawyer, who had curly brown hair, thick glasses and a horrible taste of clothing. Lance always wondered why Tommy even helped Ken: he usually did nothing for them. Avery Carrington was an aging business tycoon, who was willing to do whatever it took to get to the top. Avery always wore a cowboy hat. Lance wasn't quite sure why he didn't like Carrington, but there was something suspicious about the old man. Now, all four of them were walking around the mansion. Ken was over-excited about the whole thing:

"Oh man, we gotta redecorate this place, we gotta make it look older. I can't stand this look! Tommy, what do you say, what do you say if we put a bar in-"

Tommy raised his hand and interrupted Ken:

"You're my lawyer, Rosenberg, not my interior decorator, OK?"

Ken retreated, while Tommy turned and faced the others:

"Listen to me, the time to take over this town is now. It's all out there waiting for us."

Lance agreed:

"We need to start seizing territory. Let Vice City know we're the new players in town, know what I'm saying?"

Avery once again had his own opinion:

"What you need is a legitimate front Tommy, real estate. It's never done me no harm."

Ken looked uncertain, but Tommy seemed interested. Lance, however, knew better:

"We need to start using some muscle, or we're gonna have to kiss all that hard work goodbye. Local businesses know Diaz is dead, and they'll refuse to pay protection."

Ken finally addressed his own opinion:

"Hey, we could try bribery!"

This was the last thing Tommy wanted to hear. Tommy turned towards Ken, and yelled:

"Bribery?! Screw bribery! I'll show you how to make them scared! I'll have the job done in five minutes!"

And so Tommy took a baseball bat from Diaz's office, and left, leaving Lance alone with Ken and Avery. Everyone then went their separate ways.

It turned out that Tommy was good in using muscle: he smashed open the front windows of the shops at North Point Mall, assuring that they would get plenty of protection money. Cash started flowing in, but Lance felt that he wasn't getting enough. Lance wasn't included in the things that Tommy did, either. While Lance was enjoying the company of prostitutes, or getting drunk with members of Tommy's gang at the bar in the mansion, Tommy was out getting money. Money, which he kept for himself. Tommy did several jobs for the band Love Fist, and also ensured connections with the Cuban Gang and the local Biker Gang.

Tommy had assured Lance, that Lance was second-in-command in Tommy's organization, but Lance didn't feel it. Tommy seemed to favor Ken over Lance, and Lance rarely saw a penny out of Tommy's operations. Lance could easily hear the others making fun of him. Or maybe he was growing paranoid...Lance was still certain that he wasn't included: Tommy took Avery's advice and bought several fronts around Vice City, including the boatyard, the ice cream factory, the taxi company, the car showroom, the film studio, the Malibu Club...the list went on, and on.

But two weeks later, Lance finally received the long awaited call from Tommy:

"Hello, Lance." he said.

"Tommy? I've been asking around, where have you been, man?"

"Around...listen, Lance, I need some backup. Are you ready?"

"Hell, I'm ready man. What's the deal?" Lance said anxiously.

"Well..." Tommy started, taking a little pause before proceeding. "I just bought the old Print Works down at Little Haiti, and..."

"And?" Lance interrupted.

"Well, I need some help. I need this job to be done. Today!"

Lance felt the need of continuing to ask, but controlled himself, and replied:

"OK, I'll be there!"

_Two hours later, the Print Works, Little Haiti_

Lance arrived, and saw Tommy talking to a small, old man with grey moustache. Tommy turned around, and when he saw Lance coming, rushed to bring him in front of the old man.

"Glad you could make it, Lance!" Tommy said. "Here's Earnest Kelly. Earnest, this is Lance. Lance Va...I mean, just Lance."

"How you doin', old man?"

Lance tried to shake hands with Kelly, but Kelly just turned away, and spoke to Tommy:

"OK. But what's the deal?"

Lance felt disgusted: for some reason, the man didn't like him. But he then turned his attention to Tommy, who started talking:

"OK. Listen to me. The courier is bringing the plates to the docks, today. I need to grab the plates, lose any heat, and make my way back here. Now, depending how well this all goes, we might have five minutes before the counterfeiting syndicate finds us, or we may have all year. Either way, I want greens coming out five minutes after I get here, OK?"

Lance was thoroughly confused, but was slowly beginning to realize what Tommy was after, when Kelly responded:

"Don't you worry, Tommy. We'll be ready!"

Lance gave out a standard response:

"Me and the boys will be around then neighborhood in case you need any heat taken care of!"

Tommy nodded, and left. After Lance was sure, that Tommy was gone, Lance immediately tried to ask Kelly about the whole deal.

"Hey, Mr. Kelly, uh...what is all this stuff? What are you doing with this place?"

Kelly didn't respond immediately, but after Lance kept on staring him, Kelly sighed, and said:

"Well, I don't know why he kept it as a secret, but Tommy is going to print 3 million dollars of counterfeit money, which he will give to the Forellis."

"Say what?!?" Lance yelled.

"The Forelli Family!" Kelly said. "Tommy's old boss, the-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know who the Forellis are...but he has plenty enough of money as it is!"

"You need to learn something, boy!" Kelly said angrily. "This business is all about money. This town is all about money, and this town is all about business. In short, in Vice City, you can never have enough money. If Tommy would pay the mob with real money, they would have enough to set up business here in Vice, and finally take over Tommy's place. And he doesn't want that."

After his rant, Kelly left Lance alone. Lance wasn't assured by Kelly's explanation: the Forellis can't be stupid enough to fall into Tommy's plan. And Lance didn't want to be fitted with cement boots and end up in the bottom of the ocean. Not yet. Since Tommy was this far, there was only one thing Lance could do: Betrayal.

Lance returned to the Vercetti Estate, Tommy's luxurious mansion on Starfish Island, formerly owned by Diaz. After asking around, Lance finally got Sonny Forelli's number from the over-nervous Ken Rosenberg, who simply sat in the mansion, and snorted blow. Lance was disgusted by this, and was even more certain that he needed to save his own skin. Tommy's plan was too stupid to work. Without any concern, Lance finally phoned Sonny Forelli. And to his surprise, Sonny actually answered:

"Yeah, what?"

"Hello..." Lance started nervously. "Is this Sonny Forelli?"

"Yeah. What do you want? Are you a cop?"

"No, no, no, no...my name is Lance. You don't need to know my last name. I work with someone who you might know."

"And who might that be?" Sonny asked.

Lance hesitated at first, but finally replied:

"Tommy Vercetti."

Lance could hear Sonny's heavy breathing on the phone: Sonny was excited.

"And?" asked Sonny.

"And...I understand that you are about to reclaim the money you lost in that botched drug deal. Well I lost plenty in that deal: the drugs, as well as my brother. I don't want anymore shit. I'll tell you something about Tommy's business."

"You did the right thing, Lance." Sonny said.

Lance was now more comfortable than ever. He went on to tell more about Tommy's plan:

"You were going to demand 3 million dollars...Tommy has the money, but he isn't going to pay. Instead, he plans to give you 3 million dollars of counterfeit cash. He owns the Print Works in Little Haiti. Just thought to give you head's up!"

"OK, then. But why?" said Sonny.

"I told you already, didn't I? Tommy might be tough, but I don't want any competition from the Mafia. At least not from the biggest mob family in the country."

Lance could hear a bit of laughter in Sonny's voice, as he responded:

"OK, then. We'll see what we can do...maybe we can offer you a position in our organization. You seem like a smart man."

Lance wasn't expecting that...he had no desire of joining the Mafia, not even as an associate. But he didn't want to disappoint Sonny yet.

"I'll think about it." Lance said. "But look, what you need to do...is to gather the profits of all of Tommy's businesses. Before he can gather them. Start out from the Print Works in Little Haiti. And try to roughen up some members of Tommy's gang...I'd start with this Earnest Kelly guy, he's the chief at the Print Works."

Lance felt no remorse after saying this. Lance went on to reveal all of the locations of Tommy's businesses, based on some documents he found from Tommy's office. Finally, he told where to find Tommy's mansion, and ensured Sonny that Tommy would be in the mansion when he would arrive. It was too late to back down now, Lance thought, after hanging up.

_Two days later..._

From what Lance heard, six enforcers from the Forelli Family had arrived to Vice City, and they ended up hospitalizing Earnest Kelly. Lance felt sadistic pleasure after hearing this, but was disappointed to hear that the collectors didn't manage to get any profits from Tommy's businesses: they were all dead. Either way, Sonny had phoned Lance earlier, and he had also threatened Ken Rosenberg. Lance simply ignored this, and ordered Tommy to arrive to the mansion. After Lance's brief arguments with Ken, Tommy arrived to the mansion. Before Lance could say anything, Ken started venting out:

"Tommy, Tommy, oh good, Tommy. Listen, uh, listen...I like fish. I love fish. I love them as pets in bowls, as well as food on the plate...but as much as I love them, I don't want to sleep with them. But right now, your Italian friends are coming to fit me with some cement shoes, and I-"

Much to Lance's delight, Tommy interrupted Ken:

"Ken, shut up! Lance, what the hell is going on?"

Lance kept his cool tone while explaining the situation to Tommy:

"It's your friends up north, Tommy. They ain't too happy you capped their man. They're coming down to see the business today."

To Lance's surprise, Tommy wasn't too surprised by this.

"They took longer than I thought." Tommy said. "Look, guys, we need to make doubly sure that this is my operation. MINE! Ken, you get the first run of counterfeit cash, and put three mils in briefcases. Lance, you get the guys together!"

After Tommy's directions, Lance and Ken left. To fool Tommy, Lance told the men to 'get together'. However, he ordered all the men to stay out from the front door, to make sure that the Forellis could make their way into the mansion without interruption. Despite this, Lance was certain that a huge firefight would ensue. After Ken returned with two briefcases, Tommy, Lance and Ken walked down the stairs to meet up with Sonny. This was the first time when Lance saw Sonny in person. Sonny was quite young to be the Don: he was at the same age as Tommy, and had brown, clean hair and shiny clothes. As the trio arrived to meet Sonny, Sonny happily greeted Tommy:

"Tommy! Tommy, it's been too long. What? No big hugs to your old buddy?"

"I had 15 years out of the loop." Tommy remarked. "I'm a bit rusty on the family etiquette."

Sonny laughed.

"Always angry, huh Tommy? Didn't I say your temper would get you into trouble? Huh?"

This was the thing that made Tommy snap:

"You sent me to kill one man. ONE MAN! They knew I was coming, Sonny!"

Sonny backed down a little, while talking to Tommy:

"Tommy, Tommy, relax. Anyone would think that you blame _me_ from that unfortunate set of circumstances."

"Just take the damn money!" Tommy said.

"Get the cash!" said Sonny, ordering one of his men.

Ken lowered the two briefcases, and quickly retreated behind Tommy when a tough-looking Forelli soldier picked them up. Sonny continued talking to Tommy.

"You know, I treated you good, Tommy. I pulled strings, called in favors, and you still don't respect me, Tommy. But at least someone in your chicken shit organization knows how to do business..."

Lance knew his time was coming. Several soldiers appeared on Sonny's side, and Lance sneaked next to Sonny, who was keeping Tommy focused on himself.

"...isn't that right, Lance?"

Tommy's eyes widened, and as he looked angrily at Lance, Lance couldn't help but to laugh:

"Sorry, Tommy, but this is Vice City. This is business. Heh heh..."

Tommy wasn't shouting, nor he was raising his fists. He simply stared at Lance, and grunted in a menacing tone:

"You sold us out..."

"No!" Lance yelled. "I sold you out, Tommy! I sold _you_ out! The real cash is upstairs in the safe."

After hearing this, one of Sonny's cronies lowered the briefcases, and Sonny talked to Tommy:

"So, Tommy, what was the big plan? You expected me to take the fake cash? Save face with my tail between my legs?"

Tommy stared at Sonny, approached him, and whispered something to his ear. Nobody else could hear it, but Lance, who was the closest, could hear something like:

"No. I just wanted to piss you off before I kill you!"

This was the signal. Tommy pushed Ken away, and Ken ran away screaming. Tommy himself pulled out a revolver from his pocket, and aimed at Sonny. Sonny's cronies immediately surrounded the Don, who retreated to Tommy's bar. Meanwhile, Lance ran to the opposite direction. As Lance ran through the hallways, he could hear the gunfire. Lance could hear how Tommy's revolver stopped three mobsters. Lance could also hear Tommy screaming out insults to the Forelli Family, and the Forelli soldiers growling in pain as Tommy shot about five more Forellis. As Lance reached the staircase leading to the basement, he saw ten members of the Vercetti Gang, running to help Tommy. One of them carried an M4 assault rifle.

"Hey! HEY!" Lance yelled at the rifleman, Mario Tattaglia.

"What is it, Mr. Vance?" Mario asked.

"Let me have the M4! Tommy's in trouble! I need to go...help...him..."

Lance stuttered a little, and didn't look Mario in the eyes, but fortunately for Lance, Mario wasn't paying attention.

"OK, you can have it. I still have a pistol!"

Mario grabbed a pistol and started running towards the sound of gunfire, while Lance ran to the basement. He ran all the way to the piers, where he had a speedboat at hand. But as he arrived, the place was crowded with Forelli soldiers, who arrived there by speedboats. Lance couldn't even see his own boat anywhere, so he had no choice but to take the helicopter. Lance knew, that Tommy would probably follow him to the end of the world if necessary, so a car wasn't an option. Lance ran back inside the mansion, up the stairs and into the second floor. He heard sounds of gunfire again, but this time, was sure that the Forellis had reached Tommy's safe. Lance needed money to start a new life...he had no place in the Liberty City mob. He just wanted to get back and see Pete. Accompanied by several Forellis, Lance rushed away from the corridor, and into the middle of the war zone.

Tommy was on the other side of the mansion, still shooting around. Lance could only admire Tommy's skills with the gun: every single bullet reached it's target. But it was over now...many members of the Vercetti Gang were already dead...and now it was Tommy's turn. Without thinking at all, Lance started yelling to Tommy:

"No one to cover your ass now, eh, Tommy?!?"

Tommy immediately took cover, and turned his attention to Lance.

"You're going down, you backstabbing prick!"

"Oh, you think so?"

Lance wasn't angry at Tommy. Lance didn't hate Tommy. But he had no choice, as he pulled the trigger and fired at him. Without checking whether the bullets hit or not, Lance turned around, and started running. He ran away from the gunfire and from the Forelli mobs, knowing that Tommy was on his tail. He knew that it was a stupid thing to do...but he had it all planned out...Tommy would think that Lance was going to hijack the helicopter, and Lance had already assured that the roof was crowding with Forelli mobsters. When Tommy was dead, Lance could easily grab the money and run.

As Lance arrived to the rooftop, he had only a split-second to take cover, as Tommy arrived to the roof, and started shooting around with his revolver. Several Forellis were dead, before they even noticed Tommy's arrival. But Tommy was overpowered, and had to take cover behind the helicopter. One of the Forellis was about to shoot at it, but Lance stopped him at the last second:

"Are you crazy?!?" Lance said. "I need...I mean, we need that helicopter for escaping!"

"But..."

"LOOK OUT!"

The Forellis started panicking, and Lance soon found out why: Tommy jumped from behind the helicopter, took a hand grenade and threw it towards Lance and the Forellis. The Forellis just rand around, screaming and shooting at random directions, while Lance was the only one who kept his cool. Lance threw his rifle to the ground, then ducked.

The grenade exploded.

It seemed like Lance was dreaming, as he finally pulled up his head. The grenade did serious damage. Several bodies were lying around him, but as Lance checked himself, he didn't get any injuries. He was getting his hearing back as well, and he could easily hear what Tommy yelled at him:

"This is the last dance for Lance Vance!"

Lance angrily took his rifle, reloaded it, while yelling back:

"I said, I had enough of that at school!"

Neither of the men could see each other, but Lance was certain that he would win: he had an assault rifle, while Tommy had a six-shot revolver. Certain about his victory, Lance stood up from his hideout, and aimed at Tommy.

Unfortunately for him, it was too late: Tommy already had his revolver ready, and before Lance could shoot, Tommy pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Lance, who fell down immediately. Lance didn't even know the precise place of the gunshot wound, as he smashed to the floor. Everything was blurry, and Lance could only hear footsteps, coming closer. He felt how Tommy pulled the assault rifle from Lance's hands. But as Tommy was about to leave Lance's body, Lance spat blood on the floor. Tommy noticed, that Lance was still alive.

"You picked the wrong side, Lance." said, Tommy, before he finally left.

As Lance layed there, he felt stupid. He felt like the biggest idiot in the whole world: he actually thought he could get away with the betrayal. But it was too late to feel sad now...he had to inform about this, before it was too late. Before anyone else could call him...With his last strength, Lance pulled out his cell phone, and called Pete.

"Pete? Hello...?" Lance said, as he got weaker every moment.

"Lance? What is it? I've been worried about you?" Pete said, anxiously.

Lance smiled a bit: they were still cool.

"Pete...I have to tell you something...before anyone else does...I'm dying...I'm dying, Pete..."

Lance could only hear Pete's heavy breathing through the phone. After a long pause, Pete finally spoke:

"Come again?"

"You heard me..." Lance said. "I have been shot...I'm not going to make it..."

"But how? Why?"

"You don't want to know...let's just say...things went a little nasty...that's all you need to know...listen, you keep all of my money. And Victor's too...you keep on living...you were the best one..."

"Lance? What are you talking about?" Pete asked.

"Pete...promise me...promise me..."

"Promise you what, Lance? Lance?"

"Promise me that you will never touch drugs...never, ever, ever..."

"What?"

"Damn it, Pete, just promise me! OK?"

"OK, Lance...I promise...but what happened? Why did it have to end like this...I remember when you said...that everything was going to be fine...you promised me, Lance! You told me everything was going to be OK!"

But Pete wasn't angry with Lance. Lance could sense it from his voice. This was the perfect way to say goodbye...there was only one thing he wanted to tell Pete, before he died...his last words:

"If I had known it would end like this, I never would have told you."


End file.
